


MNPB: Adventures in Remnant

by VioletEchoes04



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25944592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletEchoes04/pseuds/VioletEchoes04
Summary: Mace Fitzroy, Nish Madigan, Plasma Mistiel, and Blesse Backus are four teenagers attending the prestigious Beacon Academy, on their way to becoming huntsmen/huntresses so they can hunt the creatures of grimm, monsters determined to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. As they train at Beacon however, they soon find out that the grimm aren't the only threat they have to face.





	MNPB: Adventures in Remnant

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of 4 prologues I will write introducing the main characters. I will add more warnings and tags to this work as the story progresses if needed.

There’s only one unspoken rule in Vacuo--whether you’re a criminal or hero, faunus or human, if you can survive in the kingdom, then you are welcome.

Vacuo was home to a variety of interesting characters. One of those characters was Mace Fitzroy, eighteen years old; not even an official huntsmen, but well known in the area for an impressive grimm kill count. He leaned over the dusty counter in the hot bar, sipping on a cool limeade(with some added grains of sand the breeze had blown in, but the people of Vacuo liked to refer to that as “Vacuan spice”). Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and cheeks but he didn’t mind it. A life in the blistering desert conditioned you to the heat.

A woman and her children sat at a table behind him. He could feel the childrens’ eyes on his back, where there was a pair of scaly dragon wings popping through two holes in his jacket. He couldn’t tell if they were staring at his wings or the rifle strapped between them. He heard their mother chastise them for staring, though she tried to keep her voice low. 

A breeze blew in from outside, landing more grains of sand-- _Vacuan spice_ in his limeade, and no doubt, the poor family’s food behind him. 

“Been a while since I’ve seen the likes of you around here, Fitzroy.” Mace looked up from the green surface of his limeade at the bartender, who stood there brewing a drink.

“Well, I came out here on request from my mentor again. He said there’s been a lot of grimm activity in this area.”

The bartender whistled. “Oh, you bet. Those blind worms swallow up more travelers than I can sell drinks to. Bad for business, I tell ya’. Darn grimm don’t know when to quit.” 

Mace smirked. “Well, lucky for a huntsman-in-training such as myself, those grimm are the perfect quarry. I’m trying to hunt as much as I can in Vacuo before I head off to Beacon Academy.”

The bartender gaped at him. “You? Going all the way to Vale? You’re gonna be a fish outta’ water in that city, desert-boy.”

“So I’m well-aware, but I’m already a year behind. Gotta get started at some point.”

“Why go all the way to Vale when you could just attend Shade?”

“Beacon Academy has the best track record out of all the huntsman academies. If I’m going to get my huntsman license, it’s going to be there.” 

The bartender chuckled. “You sure Atlas doesn’t rival Beacon for top academy?” 

Mace scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Please, those Atlesians would never be open to an outsider joining their ranks, much less a faunus. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He took one final sip of his limeade and slid the cup across the counter, then dug into his pocket for some money. 

He was about to take out his payment, but stopped short when he heard a scream from outside. On instinct, he rushed towards the door. 

“Hey!” The bartender shouted. “Where do you think-” 

“I’ll pay you when I get back!” Mace shouted over his shoulder. 

When he exited the bar, the blistering heat hit him. The breeze landed some grains of sand in his mouth. He spit out what sand he could and turned in the direction of the scream. A woman lied on the ground, and a man sprinted away with a sack in tow. 

“Thief!” The woman shouted, struggling to stand back up. Mace rushed over to her and helped her up. 

“Don’t worry, ma’am, I’ll get your bag back.” 

The woman thanked him, but Mace had no time to respond, already running after the thief. Mace sprinted through the sand. Stealing in broad daylight and trying to run through the desert without proper equipment? What an amateur. Most thieves in Vacuo were smart; they waited for the night so they could take people’s belongings from the shadows, and had the proper equipment so they didn’t freeze to death in the cold and could run through the sand without staggering. 

The thief disappeared over the top of a sandy dune up ahead. Mace grit his teeth and picked up the pace. _Not good...If he gets far enough he’ll be able to get to another settlement and hide like a coward. Guess I have no choice…_

Taking a deep breath, Mace steadied himself before his feet left the ground. Flying through the air, the breeze actually felt nice, despite the sand in his...well, everywhere. As he flew over the top of the dune, he saw the thief still running like the wind, but his pace was a bit slower. 

Mace reached behind him and grabbed his rifle. He hovered in the air, trying to find the perfect spot to aim at. He didn’t want to harm the thief, just slow him down. 

He squinted at a patch of sand ahead of the thief and squeezed the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the air, and he watched the bullet fly before it hit the ground in front of the thief, exploding on impact. The thief stopped in his tracks, but was too late to dodge the sand sprouting up in front of him. As he coughed and sputtered, furiously wiping sand from his eyes, Mace landed behind him and carefully pointed the rifle. 

“Freeze,” he said cooly. “That shot was a merciful one. These bullets are infused with fire dust, and next time I can’t promise I’ll aim so far away. You wouldn’t want to lose a limb today, would you? Turn around, put your hands up, and drop the bag.” 

The thief, now shaking in his boots, did as he said, turning, putting his hands up, and dropping the bag into sand. When he got a closer look at Mace, the fear in his eyes shifted to something like curiosity. 

“What are you, some kinda’ lizard faunus?” 

Mace shrugged. “Dragon, actually, but that I guess that counts. You’re lucky we live in Vacuo. No one would notice if one petty wannabe thief got away.” 

The thief’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’re actually letting me go?” 

“On the condition that you promise to never steal from a defenseless woman again. It’d be a shame if you ran into a huntsman who was less merciful.” Mace glared, and the thief shivered, falling to his knees. “Alright, alright! I promise! Just, please stop glaring at me with those creepy lizard eyes.” 

“Dragon,” Mace corrected him. He sighed and picked up the bag, dusting sand off of it. 

Before he could tell the thief to get out of his sight, the sand in front of him burst into the air, and he was barely able to react, shielding his face with one arm while one still hung at his side, tightly clutching his rifle. 

A black creature emerged from the sand, sporting a single red eye and a round mouth with giant fangs. The thief was caught in the midst of its fangs, and Mace winced at the sharp tooth stabbed straight through his side. The thief screamed in agony and terror. Mace took aim immediately, firing a dust-infused bullet at the worm-like creature. Blood spurted from where the bullet hit, and the creature let out an ear-piercing shriek. As it writhed in pain, it lost its hold on the thief, and he went tumbling... 

Right into the creature’s large mouth. 

Mace watched in horror as the creature convulsed, before stilling and swallowing. He shook his head. Nothing he could do for the poor thief now. He would be melted by the acid inside the worm’s body before Mace could cut it open. 

As the worm set its sights on him, he had a new objective: kill the grimm before it could kill him. 

As he pressed a button on his rifle, he grumbled to himself. “Of all times to encounter a stupid blind worm…” 

Blind worms were known as the most dangerous species of grimm in the desert wastelands. They burrowed underneath the ground and appeared when least expected, gobbling their prey before burrowing again. What made them unique was their acidic blood. To Mace, what made them most terrifying was their height. The worm in front of him towered over him at what he estimated was about 8 and a half feet, but some tales told of blind worms a hundred feet tall. 

The button he pressed had morphed his rifle into a giant axe, fire dust lining the edges of the blade. His unique weapon, which he had named Cináed, could morph from an axe to a rifle to a hoverboard. It had taken him years to build the weapon, and nothing felt better than wielding it in its true form. 

He let out a battle cry and charged towards the worm, dodging to the right as it lunged and attempted to sink its fangs into him. With a mighty swing, he buried Cináed into the worm’s side, activating the fire dust and searing its flesh. He ducked as acidic blood spurted from the wound as he pulled the weapon out. He examined the blade. He was gonna have some work to do repairing it when he got home. 

The worm shrieked at Mace, acid flying from its mouth as it angrily dove toward him again. He dodged again and swung Cináed, this time landing a much deeper hit. However, with how deep his weapon was lodged in, he struggled to pull it out. By the time he had successfully pulled it out, the worm was on him again. 

But this time he had no time to dodge. 

He cried out as the worm engulfed him, swallowing him whole. The rancid smell of the worm’s stomach triggered a memory, and it reeled inside his head like a movie tape. 

_Mace was frozen in fear. The rancid smell of the blind worm’s stomach surrounded him, causing him to gag. He just barely suppressed the urge to vomit._

I’m going to die! _The young boy thought to himself, tears welling in his eyes._

_He sobbed helplessly._ I don’t wanna die...I don’t wanna die! _His body shook with the force of his sobs as he curled in on himself, making him as small as he felt. This was how he was going to die. Alone, scared, inside of the disgusting body of a blind worm, with no one to comfort him in his last moments._

_As he closed his eyes, he thought,_ Maybe I can see Mama and Papa again… _The thought of his parents brought a small, but sad smile to his face. His mother, who had been sliced open by bandits, and his father, who had been crushed by a giant crab grimm._

_He remembered eavesdropping on his parents’ conversations they would have late at night when they thought he was asleep._ “Vacuo is a harsh place,” _they would say._ “If we can’t survive, then no one will give us a second thought.” 

That’s so cruel... _Mace thought bitterly._ It’s not fair! 

_He cried out when he felt a stinging pain in his side. The worms’ acid had begun to melt through his clothes. Soon enough it would melt through his skin too, then his bones, then his organs, until there was nothing left of the boy known as Mace Fitzroy, only ten years old, yet all alone._

_Mace closed his eyes and let the pain take him. He was tired. He didn’t want to fight anymore._

Mace shook his head furiously, willing the painful memory out of his mind. _I can’t think of that now. I have a fight to finish!_ He took a deep breath and summoned all of his willpower. 

Heat gathered in his chest. He opened his mouth, and out of it spewed an onslaught of flames. The grimm writhed in agony as he melted through its flesh with his fire breath, creating a hole in the grimm’s side that he climbed through. He coughed and sputtered as he landed back onto the dry sand, the rancid smell of the grimm’s stomach sickening him. The grimm shrieked and continued to writhe in pain, but it wasn’t done just yet. Summoning the rest of his strength, Mace grabbed Cináed and flew into the air. With all of his might, he once again activated the fire dust lining the blade’s edge, engulfing the blade in flames, and soared back down, swinging Cináed right into the worm’s red eye. 

With one last cry of agony, the grimm fell to the ground, dragging Mace along with it. He grunted as he hit the sand, and was grateful for once that it could soften his landing. 

He watched as the grimm disintegrated into black smog, leaving nothing behind but its acid blood on the sand. 

Mace just sat on the sand for a second, taking deep breaths. 

After his heart slowed its pace, he stood up, latching Cináed onto his back and picking up the woman’s bag. He had almost forgotten about the reason he’d come out here in the first place. No matter what he had just been through, he still had a job to do. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!” The woman bowed gratefully. 

Mace shrugged, giving her a warm smile. “It was no problem, ma’am. Always happy to help.” 

“Is there any reward I need to give you? Just say the word and I’ll give you the best I have.” 

He shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I wouldn’t wanna take anything from you. Have a safe journey, ma’am.” With that, he headed back into the bar. 

“Took ya long enough,” the bartender huffed. When Mace got closer, he wrinkled his nose. “Ugh, you smell like crap. Look like crap too. The hell happened to you?” 

“Let’s just say I ran into more trouble than I bargained for. Anyway, here’s your money.” He dug into his pocket for three lien bills and some coins and left them on the counter before walking away. 

After such an adventure, it was time to head home and rest. Mace took a curious sniff of his arm and had to suppress the urge to vomit. He seriously needed a bath. 

As he exited the bazaar, he smiled to himself. His mentor would have quite the story to hear when he got back. 


End file.
